Jul. 30, 2013

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| The Courier-Journal

Joshua Young listens as potential jurors are questioned before his murder trial. July 30, 2013 / Aaron Borton/ Special to The Courier-Journal

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A jury of 15 people has been selected and will hear opening statements Wednesday morning in the the trial of Joshua Young on charges he helped kill his 14-year-old stepbrother, Trey Zwicker, in May 2011.

The trial could take up to two weeks.

Last week, Young's father, Joshua Gouker, was sentenced to life in prison for Trey's murder.

Gouker, 33, pleaded guilty in May to the murder, telling Willett that he beat Trey to death with a pipe in a fit of anger. He also was charged with possession of a handgun by a felon, unlawful transaction with a minor and being a persistent felony offender.

After initially trying to blame the murder on Young, Gouker has repeatedly said he killed Trey alone and has sought to deflect any responsibility from Young. But prosecutors have made no move to drop a complicity to murder charge against Young, 17.

Prosecutors have said Gouker told fellow inmates that he pushed Young into killing Trey, Gouker's stepson, as revenge for Trey's mother having an abortion.

Defense attorneys maintain there is no evidence Young was involved.

When he entered his guilty plea, Gouker told Willett that he "snapped" on May 10, 2011, after taking Trey to a creek behind Liberty High School, about a mile from home, to confront the teen about stealing a lighter and a plate of food.

"Before I knew it, it was over," Gouker told Willett, saying he rinsed the pipe in the creek. No murder weapon has been recovered.